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[Plain Ian]

6th SS Pz Army - Spa 



3rd FJD

The 3rd FJD has lost almost 1800 men and 18 guns since the start of the campaign on the 16th. After the opening battles part of the Division appears to have been detached to march west towards Saint Vith whilst the main effort north west through Andler towards Ambleve. 
The 17th December sees most of the Division across the River Ambleve and the Saint Vith detachment rejoining the Division as no resistance was met at Saint Vith. 
The Division appears to have operated in three groups. 2 Battalions providing flank cover at Sourbrodt. 3+ Battalions supporting 1st SS and its push along the Stavelot road, and the last group pushing north west through Francorchamps towards Spa with KG Peiper’s armoured units.

After Cesar took over it looks like he has collected the Division and has now placed it south of occupied Spa where it has been from the 24th onwards. However until the 12th SS was pushed up here it also fought defensive battles east of Spa holding and extending the northern flank.

The Division’s Battalion strengths on the 16th varied. FJR 5 were 600 men units, FJR 8 560-600 men, and FJR 9 was well under strength at 450 men each.  Most units are well below starting strength and as you can see half the units have medium to high fatigue and need resting. Sample below illustrates general strength of some of the units.


 
III/FJR 8 appears to be in reserve just south of Francochamps. Its one of the Division strongest units with 459 men and Fatigue 1. However like all the other rifle units in the Division it is a D Morale unit and easily disrupts in battle. 

1st SS Pz Div

It too has fought a chaotic opening battle which has seen it capture Malmedy then push both west and north west at Stavelot and Spa. Most of its armour under KG Peiper was sent north and eventually helped capture Spa with KG Hansen/Sandig capturing La Geize and Stoumont. 

Losses have been astonishingly high. I/SS Pz Rgt 1 (Panthers ) has gone from 38 tanks to 15. (its off map west of Stoumont supporting 62nd VGD) whilst the I/SS Pz Rgt 1 (Pz IV’s) has gone from 34 tanks down to 8. The King Tiger unit or s.Panzer Btl 501 which is the hex south west of Spa, has lost an amazing 18 tanks ???? All of these losses must be due to breakdowns?? Michael operated his armour in company units a lot and it looks like this has proved a mistake for each unit moving in T mode would be liable to breakdowns. The more units the more chances of breakdowns. 

1st SS infantry is also looking low in infantry strength. Those vaunted 750 men Battalions are all now down to 50%-60%. They are however reasonably well rested apart from III/SS Pz Gr Rgt 1 (KG Hansen) and I/SS Pz Gr Rgt 2 (KG Sandig) which have been involved in battles north of Spa. III/SS Pz Gr Rgt 1 and III/SS Pz Gr Rgt 26 (12th SS) won the melee but took stiff losses.

Interestingly the actual garrison for Spa is I/SS Pz Gr Rgt 26 of 12th SS and the hex to the south west also contains a strong 12th SS infantry unit II/SS Pz Gr Rgt 25.

SS Pz Aufkl Abt 1 of 45 armoured cars has been destroyed completely.

1st SS does appear to have a firm grip on Spa but its flanks do not look healthy. South of 3rd FJD I see a hotch potch of Pioneers and a scratch armour force based on the 1st SS Pz Jag Bn. Hmmm.  

12th SS Pz Div


150th Pz Bde

An interesting and colourful unit. Elements of it fought at La Gleize and at Spa as well. Its 3 main infantry units (I/KG 200, II/KG 200 and SS FJ Abt 600) have lost almost 500 men between them. SS Abt 600 was defending Spa on the 23rd/24th. 

The two small Company units attached (150 men each) are also badly depleted. Jager ver Mitte has 36 men left and Pz Gr Ko 7 has 92. Most of these losses were incurred early on before they reach Spa.

The artillery unit attached has lost 9 of its 120mm heavy mortars and is down to 3.

The armour unit Kf Abt 2150 which were Panthers mocked up to be Shermans? has a led a charmed life. I’ve ambushed it twice in the game and hammered it with artillery and it was also unlucky get trapped in Swamp when the weather unexpectedly Cleared. (23rd/24th) This meant the 3rd FJD lost a few men pushing me back from his vulnerable armour so that I could not destroy them. The rest however di him good and he recovered 2 tanks as he only had 4 on the 23rd.

Depite its losses the Brigade has low fatigue, even the Jag Ver Mitte unit which was chewed up helping the 12th SS Aufklarungs units east of Francochamps.

I've posted the close up map and the unit strengths of the 4 main units in this area. I will come back and edit this post and add some comments about the situation. I think from the map above you can see where most of the fighting in the last day or so has happened.

Only the 12th SS to write up. Tomorrow night I hope.

The 12th SS has fought quite hard campaign but suffered less casualties than its brother the 1st SS. Just over 2,000 men and 140 vehicles to date since the opening shots on the 16th. I think Michael pushed it hard on the first few days so Cesar has spent a while regrouping after he took over. 

What I'll do is show snapshots of the units positions for each day of the campaign and track its armour losses. 

I'll do that on separate thread.